I write like…

Melting Clock
Photo credit: garlandcannon

I was at work by 7:40 a.m. today, which may not seem early to some people, but when you bear in mind that, to get to work, I have a 25 minute train ride followed by 15 minutes of tram/walking before I’m actually in the office I’m sure you can imagine what time I had to get up. To cut a long story short (too late?), I am tired and therefore incapable of typing up a proper blog post. So instead, here are some random things I discovered on the Internet.

First up is this tool that claims to be able to analyse your writing style and tell you which famous author it’s similar to. I was intrigued, so I decided to give it a go.
First, I analysed my post on Mainz and was told I write like Douglas Adams (of Hitchehiker’s Guide to the Galaxy fame – ooooh!). Fair enough. I then wondered whether that one is really representative of my writing style? A post about visiting a place is slightly different to my usual rambling posts about every day life (if only because all the photos in between mean short paragraphs), so I tried analysing a few other blog posts (including one from 2010) and got this three times:

I write like
Cory Doctorow

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

My reaction: Who??

So I looked him up on Wikipedia and was told “Cory Efram Doctorow (/ˈkɒri ˈdɒktəroʊ/; born July 17, 1971) is a Canadian-British blogger, journalist, and science fiction author who serves as co-editor of the weblog Boing Boing. He is an activist in favour of liberalising copyright laws and a proponent of the Creative Commons organization, using some of their licenses for his books. Some common themes of his work include digital rights management, file sharing, and post-scarcity economics.”

Boing Boing? Post-scarcity economics? I’m not 100% certain this result is a compliment…

Where's Wally?
Photo credit: Wikipedia

Another Internet find today was this list of nine strange things that people have found while searching for Wally (or Waldo). Everything from lions queuing up to use a urinal to someone being sacrificed by the Aztecs (and this in a kids’ book!). It makes me want to get hold of a copy of a Where’s Wally book and see what other weird pictures I can find lurking on its pages…

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Wishlist

I wish…

  • I could write as well as I thought I could when I was 10
  • I knew what I wanted from life
  • I could get my Master’s without having to write a thesis
  • My flat would clean itself
  • I understood the German tax system well enough to start working as a freelance translator (I have to do taxes every month for the first year? What?! But I can’t even remember to do my taxes at the end of each financial year!)
  • Crumpets existed in Germany
  • … and Hula Hoops and Heinz Cream of Chicken Soup and Red Leicester Cheese
  • I had a washing machine
  • I could afford to buy this… or this
  • I could do something creative. I totally admire people who can paint or sew or even take great pictures
  • Everyone I know would stop getting married/having babies (I’ve heard about two pregnancies in the past week and have known about a third for a couple of months)
  • It would stop raining

What’s on your wishlist today?

The A to Z of me

Somone sent me this as an email. You’re supposed to complete the sentences that apply to you then send it back to whoever you received it from plus a bunch of people you think should do it too. Instead of emailing it I thought it would be a fun thing to blog about, so I’m going to do it here. I also think it would be great if my blogging friends did it too, so I hereby tag Katyboo, Welsh Girl and Hails over at Coffee Helps. Only if you want to of course. If anyone else reading this would like to do it too please feel free – just leave me a comment with a link to your post so I can pop over and have a read.

Did I by any chance just make my very first meme?
OK, here it is.

The A-Z of Me

A is for Ann. That’s my middle name.

B is for books. I like those a lot. In fact, I’m slightly obsessed with them. I would hate to live in a world eithout books. B is also for blogging, which I feel deserves a mention as it seems to be developing into my new obsession.

C is for Canada, somewhere I have never been but would like to go. Visit Canada is on my list of things to do before I die.

D is for dolphin. My favourite animal. I swam with dolphins at Zoo Marine in Portugal. It was a present from my mum and sister for my 24th birthday. D is also for dog. I am definitely a dog person. Cats are mostly either evil or stupid. Sometimes both.

E is for exercise, something I really need to start doing more of. The ten minute walk to the tram stop just isn’t enough…

F is for friends and family. My friends are the most important thing in my life. I don’t have many and find it hard to make new ones, which makes me appreciate the ones I do have even more. It’s just a shame most of them live so far away. My family come a close second in the important things stakes. We don’t always get along but when i need them I know they’ll be there for me.

G is for Germany, the country I’ve lived in for the last two years. I first came over at the end of 2003 for my compulsory year abroad. Jan and I got together in February 2004 then six months later I had to retrun to England. After spending a year there completing my degree followed by a year as a language assistant in Austria I decided it would be nice to actually live in the same country as my boyfriend again. It also didn’t hurt that I actually like Germany and still had a few friends here.

H is for homeless. I have no real home any more. Here I have a room in a student residence. In England I have a room at my dad’s place. Nowhere do I have a real home to call my own.

I is for icecream. I like icecream, especially posh icecream or the kind that comes in interesting flavours, such as those made by Häagen Dazs or Ben & Jerry’s. I is also for igloo. Wouldn’t it be cool to go inside a real one, built by actual eskimos?

J is for Jan, aka “the boyfriend”. We’ve been together 4 and a half years now and I can’t quite belive he’s managed to put up with me for so long. Mind you, for 2 years it was long distance so really we’ve only been in a regular relationship for 2 and a half years. Not actually living together probably helps too.

K is for kitchen. I love to cook, but not for myself. It’s much more fun when someone else is going to be tasting the result. I also love baking but unfortunately don’t often find the time for it.

L is for languages. I currently a speaktwo – English, as my native language, and German. I would like to learn a lot more, including Spanish, Ukranian and Italian.

M is for mother. I hope to be one some day. Ideally I would like three kids, but that’s looking less and less likely as the years go by.

N is for names. I’m fascinated by names – the meanings behind them, the fact that a name that’s definitely female in one country may be male in another. It’s all very interesting… honest!

O is for orangutan, just because they’re cool. When I was little I thought the word was “orangutang”.

P is for potatoes, my favourite food. I could live on potatoes. Baked, roast, fried… anything goes. Except boiled – boiled potatoes are just boring! Mashed potatoes on the other hand are the ultimate comfort food and fantastic on a cold, miserable day.

Q is for quiz. I used to go to pub quizzes with my dad. Occasionally my team even worn. I like the pub quiz at Flynn’s here in Karlsruhe – you can win a special prize for putting down an answer that they think is funny or clever. Usually the special prize (a bag full of crisps, sweets and maybe a random alcopop) is better than the real prize (whiskey, which I hate).

R is for red, my favourite colour. I wore a red dress at my 21st birthday party. It cost me 150 pounds, the most money I have ever spent on one item of clothing.

S is for Shirley, my future daughter’s middle name. My step mum was called Shirley. She died when I was 12. My first daughter is having Shirley as a middle name in her honour. Any man that can’t understand that isn’t worthy of being the father of my children.
S is also for siblings, of which I have three. A sister, who is two and half years younger than I am, and two half brothers one from each side of the family. The brother on my mum’s side is almost 18 (how did that happen? He was just a kid a few years ago!). The brother on my dad’s side has just turned two.

T is for translator, what I will hopefully be in a few years time. Right now I’m a trainee translator. The ideal job for me would be translating children’s books, but there’s not much money in it so it would have to be on the side.
T is also for travel. There are so many places to see, so many cultures to learn about. Why stay in one place all your life?

U is for university. I’m currently studying part time for my Master’s in Translation, via distance learning. U also happens to be for the name of my university, UWE, the University of the West of England.

V is for variety, the spice of life. The old saying is definitely true for me – I would get so bored if I was forced to do the same thing all the time!

W is for writing. For a long time I wanted to be an author. I still haven’t entirely given up on that dream, although now I don’t think I have the talent. I did do an OU fiction writing course last year though so you never know.

X is for x-ray, because it almost always is. I’ve never had one though – no broken bones here!

Y is for yellow flowers, something else I like. My favourite is daffodils, but I also love sun flowers. Yellow roses are pretty too.

Z is for zzz, as in sleep. I’m good at sleeping and tend to get irritable when I don’t get enough. Sometimes, when I’m really tired, I’ll just cry for no reason.

OK, that’s me done. Now it’s your turn…

Everyone must have a talent…

They say everyone has a talent. An inborn ability. Something we are naturally good at. Growing up, I always wondered what mine was. I don’t have any of the obvious ones. I can’t draw or paint. I’m about as musical as a dead fish. I’m no good at sport. At school my grades were pretty good, but never excellent. For years I wanted to be a writer. As a child I would write stories. They were always ridiculously detailed with millions of characters but at the time I thought they were brilliant. Reading them now makes me laugh. It’s the same with my poetry. I’ve written maybe 3 poems in my life that I still think are good. But now, after almost 25 years of searching, I’ve finally found something I can do. Translation! I’m good at it, I know I am, and so far my grades seem to be confirming it. The only question now is does translation count as a talent? Oh who cares, I think it does and in my world that’s all that matters 🙂